Summer is about to pass and it’s time for you to plan for another peak season for your small business: back-to-school. It’s a golden chance to reach out to a large, diverse and very important customer group: from parents with young children to college and graduate students. Whether you own a clothing store, bookstore or home appliances, you can join the fun of preparation for a new school year and attract shoppers not only during this time but also for months to come with many holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here are some ideas for you to kick off and rock your back-to-school season.
Offer special promotions for key back-to-school items
There’s a lot to buy to prepare for the school, so students and parents are all searching for the best deals of the items on their lists, especially the essential items like notebooks and pens. If you own a clothing or gear for school store, run an impressive promotion campaign with eye-catching banners on your website and at your stores. You can offer a direct discount on selected items, buy X get Y free, or give away creative stationery items or toys to delight your customers. Tailor your message for each customer group and then spread the words to as many people as possible via your website, social networks and emails.
Partner with local schools and businesses
To reach more targeted customers, you can team up with other local businesses and schools to co-promote or host some events to welcome students back. For example, if you run a book and stationery store, you can join hands with coffee shops and clothings boutiques to hold a back-to-school event at a local school with good music, good food and good deals on school essentials and new clothes. This will definitely delight students and create chances for new students to get familiar with their school and schoolmates. Again, just ensure that people know about your event ahead of time.
Reach out to students through social networks
Social networks are so popular today that an increasingly significant number of shoppers are turning to them to get the information they need. You should get to know the social platforms well to create suitable and relevant campaigns for each one of them. Update your social channels with interesting and helpful status for the back-to-school seasons on Facebook, such as schedules of local schools (partner with them for information), advice on how to study more effectively and prepare for exams better, or refresh your Instagram or Pinterest with a dedicated album or board of trendy and must-have items or cool costume for school.
Don’t forget to promote your sale campaign on these social platforms as well – you can event create a special code just for your followers who share, tag their friends or comment on your posts. You can create competitions, for example, a photo contest of favorite study corner to win vouchers for shopping at your store. Once you get them to follow you on social media, you have a better chance to reach out and attract their attention to your posts now and in the future.